Dalton Advisory Panel rejects fire station listing / iBerkshires.com

DALTON, Massachusetts – The Public Safety Facilities Advisory Committee has ruled out the possibility of placing a fire station in a public safety building.

Committee members cited several reasons, including the fire district’s separation from the city, its lack of interest in purchasing a station, and “disorder in the house.”

The Water Commissioners Committee oversees the fire district and the fire department.

The district had considered purchasing a former auto repair shop at 385 Main Street and converting it into a fire station.

Thomas Irwin, a member of the city’s Finance Committee and an engineer, suggested in July that to solve the space problem, the district could renovate the current fire station, purchase and remodel the Dalton Garage, or renovate the Dalton Garage and build an addition.

Advisory committee co-chair Don Davis said the Board of Water Commissioners recently rejected the proposal for the second time.

“The message from the commissioners was that the fire department was finished. Don’t talk about it. It’s over. Don’t mention it again,” Davis said.

“So if they’re the ones who have to pay for it, the way it looks now, they’re going to finish us off again.”

The committee stated that it was prepared to reconsider including the fire station in the discussion on public safety facilities if the situation changed in the future, but that this was not feasible at present.

Keywords: Fire Department, Public Safety Committee,